Obama administration: Middle class still waiting for results

WASHINGTON, May 11, 2014 – From his early days on the campaign trail until today, President Obama continually told us what he is going to do to improve the plight of the middle class. Almost five and a half years after entering office, the Obama administration offers virtually nothing positive for the middle class.

Yet his supporters continue to support his failures, telling us that he is “trying” and lack of progress is the Republican’s fault.

What could the results have been?

When Obama entered office in January 2009, he had a Democratically controlled House of Representatives and, after Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Spector switched parties, he had a super majority in the Senate.

He could have gotten anything he wanted.

For two years he essentially ignored any actions that would lead to growth in the economy and more jobs being created. Instead he arm-wrestled his way to passing the Affordable Care Act by making deals with reluctant Senators.

While his party declares Obamacare to be a success because it appears that more people have signed up than originally anticipated, the plan is still doomed to fail.

Millions have signed up which he claims is a success. The reality is:

The majority of those signing up already had or could have easily had, health insurance.

The promise of being able to keep your doctor or keep your plan never resulted.

The promise of an average of $2,500 savings never resulted.

Beginning in October of this year, when the employer mandate is 90 days away from enactment, millions more will lose their employers based plans.

While a few million people may have benefited, tens of millions of us have been hurt.

For all those that have lower premiums, the rest of America is paying additional taxes to cover those government subsidies.

No positive results here.

In 2009, Obama pushed the Democratically controlled Congress to pass his almost $1 trillion stimulus plan, the largest ever, promising that this would lead to growth in the economy and the creation of “shovel ready” jobs.

The result:

Five years later, there no shovel ready jobs,

Economic growth has barely exceeded population growth,

Tens of millions of Americans are now dependent on the government for welfare, food stamps and extended unemployment benefits.

Obama promised to restore our standing in world affairs offering to reset relations with Russia and bring a spirit of cooperation between the US and the rest of the world.

The result:

He turned his back on the Iranian people who were poised for regime change in 2009.

He drew a red line in Syria and then ignored it.

He allowed the Iranian government to continue to move toward a nuclear weapon, although he did sign an agreement that he thinks will result in Iran scaling back on its nuclear program.

He let Russia annex parts of the Ukraine which encouraged Putin to think that the US is helpless.

From yet unanswered questions about the death of four Americans in Benghazi to his failures in the Palestine/Israeli conflict he continues to produce no results.

Obama says that global warming is a serious problem that must be dealt with immediately. Although there is some debate in the scientific community, he has been unable to reach a compromise on any legislative action.

The result:

Obama says he wants to expand energy production in the US.

He lends money which solar companies do not repay and many end up bankrupt.

He refuses to expand production of fossil based fuels on federally owned land, even though on privately owned land the energy boom has resulted in thousands of new jobs and low prices for clean burning natural gas.

He refuses to allow the Keystone pipeline to be built.

His efforts have produced no results and have hindered what could have been, a more positive result.

He says the budget deficit is a problem and vows to significantly reduce the size of deficits.

The result:

First he ran up annual deficits of over $1.3 trillion.

Then with the insistence of the now Republican controlled House, he cut the deficit to $680 billion, which is still 50% larger than any other President ever had.

Is this a positive result?

The reality is that President Obama’s policies have not produced any positive results for the majority of Americans, although for those at the bottom 15% of income earners he has made it much easier for them to get things they simply have not earned.

In the long run this is not a positive result.

What is baffling is that his supporters say that although there few (if any) positive results for his administration, he is “trying”. And he has good intentions. And it’s not his fault. And we should support him. And he does not tell lies and….

Michael Busler, Ph.D. is a public policy analyst and a Professor of Finance at Stockton University where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Finance and Economics. He has written Op-ed columns in major newspapers for more than 35 years.